Reuters – Dutchman Jeroen Dijsselbloem will continue as president of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers until his term expires in January even though he will no longer be the finance minister of the Netherlands, he said on Monday.
Dijsselbloem’s Labour party (PvdA) is not a part of Dutch coalition government but he asked other euro zone finance ministers whether he could complete his term.
“There was unanimous support for that. Everybody was content with me staying on until mid-January,” Dijsselbloem told a news conference in Luxembourg at the end of a meeting of euro zone ministers.
Dijsselbloem has held the post of Eurogroup president since 2013, taking a firm stance in favour of fiscal discipline among euro zone members.
He caused controversy when he suggested in an interview that southern EU states could not expect aid if they squandered their money on “booze and women”, triggering a furious reaction from Portugal, Italy, Spain and Greece.
The vote for a new Eurogroup president could be complicated by national and political party interests as the EU also needs to fill other top jobs.
Eurogroup members have so far always been sitting ministers.
